Gallopin takes stage 11 in the Tour de France

17/07/2014

Tony Gallopin has won the eleventh stage of the Tour de France in an impressive way. In the streets of Oyonnax he managed to stay in front of of a chase group. After he conquered the yellow jersey on Sunday and could wear it for one day, this is another dream come true for the 26-year-old Frenchman. It's his first victory for the team and the second one of Lotto Belisol this Tour.

Tony Gallopin: "Wearing the yellow jersey or winning a Tour stage gives you a different feeling. Before I conquered the yellow jersey I had that plan in mind for a couple of days already and I was thinking of it the entire stage. I had done a recon of today's stage. I knew what was coming: that there was an uphill section of over one and a half kilometer after the last official climb, where it was steep and narrow. And that there was a descent towards Oyonnax afterwards. I didn't know the last kilometers too well. Because I felt good and the break was controlled by Cannondale and Orica GreenEdge I decided to go to the team car to study the last five kilometers."

"A few hundred meters before the top of that last climb I took off and went down full gas. The gap was never big. When the three others joined me I stayed in the wheel the next two kilometers, then I attacked. I knew the others would hesitate. Sagan because he would lose power for the sprint and the two others wouldn't be able to jump away themselves afterwards. I wasn't thinking anymore at the end. I wanted to reach the finish as soon as possible. It's a crazy feeling."

"Up till now I performed well in the stages I had marked. I got fifth in Sheffield and third in Nancy. On Sunday I took the yellow jersey. We're on the right track. The team already had a victory with André Greipel. We did a fantastic job up till now collectively. Jurgen van den Broeck is tenth now and the goal the next ten stages is to get him as high as possible in GC. The nice thing about the team is that we get results with different riders. The atmosphere is great and we will continue in the same way."